In certain conditions, connective tissues in a patient are detrimentally degraded. For example, cartilage can be degraded as a result of a disease, or injury from a mechanical trauma, such as a sports accident; the bones or intervertebral disks of a patient can be degraded due to various environmental conditions or diseases; dermis of the skin can be degraded in the elderly causing chronic ulcers; and degradation of the connective tissue of blood vessels can lead to aneurysm formation or atherosclerosis. The term "connective tissue" means the structural framework of organs containing supporting matrix molecules such as collagens, elastins, and proteoglycans (glycosaminogylcans).
In conditions in which connective tissue degradation occurs, matrix metalloproteinases are known to play an important role in the degradation of the tissues. A good review of the matrix metalloproteinases and their role in tissue degradation can be found in the article "Matrix Metalloproteinases and Their Inhibitors In Connective Tissue Remodelling" by J. Frederick Woessner, Jr., The FASEB Journal, 1991;5:2145-2154.
Presently, there is no way of inhibiting the tissue degradation that results from such conditions, and physicians have, instead, prescribed compounds that act to mask the symptoms, i.e., ameliorate the pain associated with such conditions, but these compounds have not inhibited the tissue degradation. That is, destruction of the tissues continues unabated despite symptomatic relief. Eventually, the tissues are destroyed by the disease process and dysfunction occurs.
Thus, it would be beneficial to have a method to inhibit connective tissue degradation in a patient.